THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY IN LATE ANTIQUITY The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity comprises over forty specially commissioned essays by experts on the philosophy of the period 200–800 ce. Designed as a successor to The Cambridge History of Later Greek and Early Medieval Philosophy (ed. A. H. Armstrong), it takes into account some forty years of schol- arship since the publication of that volume. The contributors examine philosophy as it entered literature, science and religion, and offer new and extensive assess- ments of philosophers who until recently have been mostly ignored. The volume also includes a complete digest of all philosophical works known to have been written during this period. It will be an invaluable resource for all those interested in this rich and still emerging field. lloyd p. gerson is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto. He is the author of numerous books including Ancient Epistemology (Cambridge, 2009), Aristotle and Other Platonists (2005)andKnowing Persons: A Study in Plato (2004), as well as the editor of The Cambridge Companion to Plotinus (1996). The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity Volume II edited by LLOYD P. GERSON cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao˜ Paulo, Delhi, Dubai, Tokyo, Mexico City Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 8ru,UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521876421 C Cambridge University Press 2010 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2010 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Volume II isbn 978-0-521-19484-6 Hardback Available only as a set isbn 978-0-521-876421 Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. CONTENTS VOLUME II VI Late Platonism Introduction to Part VI page 583 32 From Constantine to Justinian 585 elizabeth depalma digeser 33 Plutarch of Athens 608 angela longo 34 Syrianus 616 angela longo 35 Proclus 630 carlos steel 36 Ammonius Hermeiou and his school 654 david blank 37 Damascius 667 gerd van riel 38 Olympiodorus 697 jan opsomer 39 Simplicius of Cilicia 711 han baltussen 40 John Philoponus 733 koenraad verrycken 41 Priscian of Lydia and Pseudo-Simplicius on the soul 756 f. a. j. de haas v vi Contents VII The third encounter of Christianity with ancient Greek philosophy Introduction to Part VII 765 42 Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite 767 eric perl 43 Boethius 788 john magee 44 Maximus the Confessor 813 david bradshaw 45 John Scotus Eriugena 829 wayne hankey and lloyd p. gerson VIII Philosophy in transition Introduction to Part VIII 841 46 Early Byzantine philosophy 843 katerina ierodiakonou and george zografidis 47 The origins of Islamic philosophy 869 cristina d’ancona 48 Ancient philosophy becomes medieval philosophy 894 stephen gersh Appendix: List of works of ancient authors 915 List of abbreviations 966 Bibliography 983 Index locorum 1183 General index 1249 PART VI LATE PLATONISM INTRODUCTION TO PART VI In this section, we turn to the last phase of pagan ancient philosophy. The date 529 ce when the Emperor Justinian officially closed the Academy in Athens is conventionally taken to be the terminus of non-Christian philosophy. Of course, this is something of an overstatement. The philosophers Olympiodorus, Damascius and Simplicius all lived up to a generation beyond this date. They were apparently, however, not allowed to teach in public. We have no record of any openly non-Christian philosopher in the ancient world after the last quarter of the sixth century ce. Nevertheless, ancient Greek philosophy itself did live on within the Church and in the seventh century, within the early schools of Islamic philosophy. The history of ancient philosophy as intellectual infrastructure for religion as opposed to autonomous enterprise will be canvassed in the last two sections. Here we are concerned with those philosophers, mainly in Athens and Alexandria, who sought to articulate and defend the Platonic inheritance. Scholars in the early part of the twentieth century sometimes maintained that the Alexandrian and Athenian ‘branches’ of Platonism differed in their focus on either religion or metaphysics. This view is generally regarded today as mistaken or greatly oversimplified. Modern research has led to the view that the inter- changes between Athens and Alexandria were frequent and fruitful during this period. The supposed emphasis on religion among the Alexandrian Platonists is probably to be accounted for by the strong Christian political domination. The contemporary pressing issues faced by philosophers there were principally those raised by Christian opponents. By contrast, in Athens, the Academy, beginning with Plutarch and ending with Damascius, seemed to be focused on the more or less traditional philosophical issues that we can trace back to the Old Academy itself. Such work in metaphysics, for example, did not exclude Proclus’ efforts to systematize a theological version of Platonism. 583 584 Introduction to Part VI In this period, we also see the great flowering of commentaries by Platonists both on the dialogues of Plato and on the works of Aristotle. Unfortunately, most of the former are lost. There still exists, fortunately, a mass of detailed philosophical commentaries on those central works of Aristotle that were suit- able as preparation for the study of Plato. Since it was universally believed that Aristotle’s philosophy was in harmony with Platonism despite his occasional lapses, it was held that the study of Aristotle was the correct preparation for appreciating the Platonic higher ‘mysteries’. Not only do these commentaries represent a serious philosophical dialogue between Platonists and Plato’s greatest disciple, but they contain an invaluable record of debate among the Platonists regarding the correct understanding of Plato. John Philoponus is in a way the key transitional figure in our period. Whether he was once a pagan who converted to Christianity or always a Christian of some sort, it is clear especially in his philosophical and scientific as opposed to strictly theological works that Platonism as it had been understood for more than 800 years provided the armature for all his intellectual work. His later disputes with orthodox Platonism concerning the eternity of the world on behalf of Christian creationism represents one enormously influential episode in the gradual self-understanding of Christianity among its theologians. It is also no doubt in part owing to Philoponus’ Platonism and his suspicion that an authentic Peripatetic philosophy was actually inimical to Christianity that the assumption of the harmony between these two central figures would be abandoned. 32 FROM CONSTANTINE TO JUSTINIAN elizabeth depalma digeser 1 THE HEIRS OF THEODOSIUS I: CONSTANTINOPLE VERSUS RAVENNA In the fall of 394, as his entourage – victorious after fighting along Istria’s Frigidus River – moved steadily toward Milan, the southwestern imperial cap- ital, Theodosius I (378–95) could have been excused for thinking that heaven had amply rewarded his piety. His sons had outlived the heirs of Valentinian I(364–75), so his family alone held claim to the throne. He had successfully put down not one but two usurpers, Magnus Maximus in the 380s and most recently Eugenius at the Frigidus River. And the emperor’s recent edicts nour- ishing the now officially orthodox Nicene form of Christianity aimed to stifle, if not extinguish, all other forms of religious expression save Judaism, which was still tolerated, despite events in Callinicum (CTh. 16.1.2; 16.10.10–12). Certainly, Augustine saw the entire history of the Christian message as culmi- nating triumphantly in this period (Comm. in Psal. 6.10–12). Nevertheless, in the time he took to travel between the battleground and the capital city, Theo- dosius, now in his late forties, became gravely ill. He sent for his son Honorius, residing in Constantinople with his older brother, Arcadius, ruling as eastern Augustus in his late teens under the watchful eye of his praetorian prefect. The nine-year-old arrived, and Theodosius appointed as his guardian Stilicho, his magister utriusque militiae (Zos. 4.59). By 17 January 395 the emperor was dead. With the reigns of his two young sons, Honorius (395–423)intheWestand Arcadius (395–408) in the East, Theodosius reaped a harvest much different from what he had intended to sow. For example, the goal of his settlement with the Visigoths, a pact born of necessity after Valens’ stunning defeat at Adri- anople, was a mutually beneficial relationship between the Roman state and the Germans now living within its frontiers, fighting for Rome as foederati under their own commanders. That Theodosius considered Germans to be worthy soldiers and potentially good citizens is amply demonstrated by his treatment 585 586 Elizabeth DePalma Digeser of the Visigoths and his trust in Stilicho, the half-Vandal general whom he had married to his niece even before his designation as Honorius’ guardian (Zos. 4.57–9). Unfortunately, after Theodosius’ death, Germanic commanders, no longer held in check by Theodosius’ auctoritas and patronage, could exact demands from eastern and western courts simply by rallying their followers who, living and serving only with their own people, had still only a thin concep- tion of Roman culture and institutions. Indeed, the Visigoths, perhaps under pressure from the Huns, started raiding Greece under the leadership of Alaric around the time of the emperor’s death (Claud.